Chinese Law and Restrictions on the Number of Births

Chinese Law and Restrictions on the Number of Births

[i:d4acef5311]But the Law Says You Can Only Have One Baby... [/i:d4acef5311]
Imagine for a minute a newlywed woman. Who want more than anything to have a chi
ld maybe two maybe three, but in her country there are strict rules; she can hav
e only one. So she and her husband apply to have that one precious baby, since t
hey need the governments permission. She then get pregnant, 5 months down the ro
ad they find out that it is a girl. She is made to abort the baby. What are they
going to do about it ? Nothing, because they have no choice. If this woman were
real she would be living in China and her family would be controlled by the gov
ernment and the one child policy.
China's attempt at making the lives of their people better simply does nothing b
ut put them in unnecessary pain. The law is cruel and unjust and should have nev
er been put in affect. The one child policy was established in 1979, in an attem
pt to regulate the out of control population increase. In 1979, when the policy
was adopted, the population in China was over 950 million people. Today, in the
year 2000, the population has skyrocketed to over 1.3 billion people (Gilmore np
). China is extremely overcrowded and is continuing to grow.Statistics show Chi
na's population is growing at rate where they are eventually going to run out of
places to house and feed their people.
For many families in China the policy seemed to be a good decision. The governme
nt was doing this in the best interest of the people and with nothing but good i
ntentions. The goal was to reduce the population increase by 5% by 1985, and to
then move on and reach the goal of 0% increase by the year 2000 ( Maynard np). T
hough many viewed the policy as negative, the government tried to offer some inc
entives to following the new laws. For example, families in compliance with the
policy were often given money, free health services, preferential housing, and b
etter access to education opportunities. Birth control pills, condoms and other
forms of contraception were made easily available, not only for birth control,bu
t to help stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Chinese executives a
ttempted to make the policy seem socially acceptable and used fear as a deterren
t to not following the policy. Chinese natives were subject to physical abuse, s
ocial embarrassment that could ruin their social status for life, imprisonment a
nd even death( Gilmore np). The Chinese government may have had a good idea in t
rying to find way to control the population. There seems to be no reason to allo
w the population to increase when eventually you will have no where to house and
nothing to feed these people.
Though the policy seemed to have good intentions and seemed to be put in action
for a worthy cause the policy itself was very sugar coated. If the policy is so
great why are so many Chinese fleeing the country and coming to America? Many sp
end their life savings to spend weeks, even months, on ships or in cargo holds t
o gain asylum from this policy. They do it because the conditions in which the p
olicy is enforced are inhumane and take away a couples choice to have a family.T
he people of China should not Dee the need to run from their own government and
especially not at the expense of losing their lives in the process. For example,
one of the 282 Chinese immigrants found in the cargo hold of the Golden Venture
landing in Mississippi two years ago recalls an account of her life in China (
Maynard np). This is just one example of the harsh lengths which these people ar
e subjecting themselves to so that they can have more control of their life.Her
name was " Dottie" as given to her by the jailers, after she and the others were
discovered and detained tells a loathsome story of the policy that Chinese offi
cials claim was in her best interest
( Maynard np). But if the policy is in her best interest why was she jailed for

trying to get away. The government, determined to enforce the policy allowed Chi
nese doctors to force " Dottie " to have a intrauterine device placed in her ute
rus after the birth of her second child. For the four years that the device was
inside her she experienced bleeding and cramps on a regular basis. After decided
she was not to put up with it anymore she paid a private physician $200 to remo
ve it. When word got out the police showed up at her door with a court order to
have her sterilized.( Maynard np )
" Dottie's" story is just one of many appalling stories coming from the enforcem
ent of this policy. Hundreds of other woman have described forced abortions of f
ull-term babies. One woman tells the story of how she watched nurses take her ba
by from her arms never to return. Just for the simple fact that it was a little
girl and more than likely that child was murdered because it was the wrong sex.
( ippf.org/newsinfo/archive/9902/11).Also it is not just the woman who suffer fr
om this policy. There are accounts of men losing their homes and jobs because th
ey have more than one child. Why should a man lose his job or the right to provi
ded for his family simply because he wants to expand his family? There is no rea
son for it and no excuse.
In the Chinese culture men are regarded much higher than woman and it is expecte
d of a woman to bare her husband a son so that he can carry on the family name a
nd legacy
( Bingham 27 ). An old Chinese saying states that " The birth of a son is a big
happiness, but the birth of a daughter is a small happiness"( Bingham 42 ). As p
art of the Chinese culture the one child policy is also partial to boys as well.
With the advancement in technology and the capability of finding out the sex of
the child before birth the consequence of having a girl has become steep. Sex-s
elective abortions occurred and even the murder of infant girls. It was estimate
d that between 500,000 and 750,000 girls are aborted every year (www.cpirc.org.c
n/eindex.htm np). That over 100,000 lives lost every two years. Lives of little
girls who one day may grow to be president or the love of a mans' life, but that
is all taken away.That is an expense that the world should not be willing to ta
ke.
The Chinese have not abolished the policy but are trying to move away from it. N
ow, many expectant mothers with one previous child are not forced to abort , but
are given counseling where abortion and or sterilization is strongly suggested.
Also now there is a fee that must be paid to allow a family to have more than o
ne child. Though these conditions are less severe than forced sterilization or a
bortion many of these gruesome acts still occur yet the government seems to know
nothing about them.
(www.forerunner.org/mandate/x0046_human_rights_abuses_html. np )
In 1979 when the policy was adopted the population was out of control and still
today the population has almost doubled. The policy is not working and it's amaz
ing that the government has not recognized this. Since the policy has been intro
duced the population has almost doubled.( Gilmore np ) If killing innocent child
ren and causing their people immeasurable pain then the law has served its purpo
se. But if the law was put into place to simply control the population it was a
bad idea and the Chinese powers that be went about enforcing it in a manner in w
hich they would not enforce upon their own wives and children. The government di
d not accomplish it's initial goal of having a 0% population increase, so why is
the law still in practice? The government of China or of any country for that m
atter does not right to tell it's people they can only have one child or they mu
st suffer the consequences of permanent physical and irreversible emotional dama
ge and pain. It is the way of nature and our human right to reproduce. Children
are a gift are to be loved and adored no matter what sex or quantity. Many count

ries are in opposition of China's policy because it is inhumane and cruel. Thous
ands of people are trying to flee China and coming to the United States searchin
g for asylum from a policy that should never have been put in place. One day and
hopefully soon China will realize how much this policy is hurting their people
as well as their reputation with the rest of the world.

Category : Law
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